Deep Dive Grief

Role: Sole Learning Experience Designer, end to end
Calabasas Counseling & Grief Center
2024

Overview

I led the migration of a 20 CE hour grief course for mental health professionals from Kartra to Articulate 360, working directly with the program's stakeholder, who is also the subject matter expert. Following an ADDIE based process throughout, what started as a platform transfer became a full instructional redesign: I restructured six flat lessons into six modules with gated quizzes, and rebuilt the course from static text-only content into an interactive learning experience with graphics, matching exercises, drag and drop activities, and flashcards.

Skills: Instructional Design (ADDIE) · Articulate 360 · LMS Migration (Reach 360) · Stakeholder and SME Collaboration · Interactive Learning Design · Assessment Design · CE Accreditation (NBCC) · Accessibility and Compliance

Challenge

  • The original course lived on Kartra as six flat lessons with no interactive elements beyond end of section quizzes, despite covering 20 CE hours of dense, sensitive clinical content

  • Content spanned a wide range of high stakes grief topics, from traumatic loss to child and pet loss, and needed a structure that supported both comprehension and emotional pacing for learners

  • The course had to meet NBCC board guidelines across quizzes, course evaluation, certification, and content and advertising standards, all of which needed to carry over accurately in the rebuild

  • I needed to transform passive, text heavy lessons into an engaging Articulate 360 course without losing clinical accuracy or accreditation compliance

Solution

  • Restructured the six original Kartra lessons into six fully built out modules in Articulate 360, each with its own quiz gating progression to the next section

  • Worked closely with the stakeholder, who is also the course's SME, to redesign the layout and content flow around the new interactive elements rather than simply reformatting the existing material

  • Built out the course with pictures, charts, and interactive graphics, along with matching exercises, drag and drop activities, and flashcard elements to reinforce retention of clinical concepts

  • Wrote new quizzes for each module and restructured content sequencing for better scaffolding, building from foundational grief concepts up through more specialized and sensitive loss topics

  • Maintained NBCC board compliance throughout, including quiz design, course evaluation structure, certification requirements, and content and advertising guidelines

Design Process

I followed an ADDIE based process throughout, from auditing the original course through evaluating learner feedback post launch.

  • Analysis: Audited the original Kartra course and identified it as flat and non-interactive despite its 20 CE hours of content, with structure and pacing that needed a full rework

  • Design: Partnered with the SME to redesign layout and content flow specifically to accommodate new interactive elements, restructuring six flat lessons into six gated modules

  • Development: Built out the course in Articulate 360 with charts, graphics, matching exercises, drag and drop activities, and flashcards, along with new quizzes for each module aligned to NBCC requirements

  • Implementation: Launched the rebuilt course to learners, replacing the original Kartra version

  • Evaluation and iteration: Reviewed learner course evaluations post launch and used that feedback to inform ongoing edits and improvements, closing the loop from build to real world use

Training

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New Interactive Content

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Outcome

  • Successfully migrated and modernized a 20 CE hour clinical course from a static, text and quiz only format to a fully interactive Articulate 360 experience

  • Delivered a scalable, accreditation compliant course structure the stakeholder can continue to build on for future CE offerings

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